Johnson homers as Herd rolls on

ALLENTOWN, Pa. — The undefeated Buffalo Bisons (3-0) stayed on the winning track, defeating the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, 7-2, Tuesday night in the opener of their three-game International League series at Coca-Cola Park.

Dan Johnson homered with a man on in the first inning, his second of the season to get Buffalo off to a 2-0 lead. After the IronPigs tied it with single runs in the fourth and fifth, the Herd moved in front for good with two runs in the sixth. Jared Goedert started it with a one-out double. He came home on a double by Jack Murphy. A single by Anthony Gose scored Murphy.

In the seventh, Buffalo tacked on two more runs. Juan Francisco opened the inning by lining a single to center. Two outs later Chris Getz walked. After Steve Tolleson reached on an error at third by Reid Brignac, Goedert came through with his third hit of his 4-for-4 night, an RBI single to center.

Bisons starter Sean Nolin (1-0) lasted until he got two outs in the sixth. After he walked Cameron Rupp, Rob Rasmussen came on and struck out Brignac for the third out. Four consecutive walks after two were out in the eighth produced another Buffalo run.

Liam Hendricks pitched the seventh and eighth for Buffalo before turning things over to Ryan Tepera, who pitched a perfect ninth for his first save.

The teams will play a doubleheader today, starting (Radio 1520, 5:35 p.m.) with left-hander Ricky Romero and right-hander Marcus Stroman (0-0) scheduled to start for the Bisons. Lefty Greg Smith is scheduled to start the opener for Lehigh Valley.